Turkey’s Erdogan OKs Sweden’s NATO bid, sends ratification bill to parliament
Global News
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday submitted a bill approving Sweden's NATO membership bid to parliament for ratification, his office said.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday submitted a bill approving Sweden’s NATO membership bid to parliament for ratification, his office said, a move welcomed by Stockholm as it clears the way for it to join the Western defence alliance.
Erdogan pleased his NATO allies at a summit in July by promising to send the legislation to parliament when it reopened on Oct. 1, having previously raised objections over Sweden’s alleged harboring of individuals who Turkey says are members of terrorist groups.
Since parliament reopened, however, Turkish officials have repeatedly said Stockholm needed to take more concrete steps to clamp down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia before Ankara could ratify its membership bid. The PKK is deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
On Monday the bill on approving Sweden finally moved forward.
“The Protocol on Sweden’s NATO Accession was signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on October 23, 2023 and referred to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey,” the presidency said on social media platform X without elaborating.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson welcomed the move. “Now it remains for the parliament to deal with the question,” Kristersson said on X.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was looking forward to a “speedy vote” in the Turkish parliament and to welcoming Sweden as an ally “very soon.”
In a note to NATO members on their next foreign ministers’ meeting on Nov. 28 and 29, Stoltenberg raised the prospect that Sweden could join the alliance at the meeting, according to a European diplomat.